White Painted Houses Poem by Daleen Enslinstrydom

White painted houses are in a row
with the cobalt-blue ocean as a background
and the colours are changing constantly
as the sun lowers itself over the horizon
and the water turns to purple-pink.

Colourful are the fishing boats
coming into the small harbour
and everywhere barefoot children are to be seen.

The catch is being sold
while men talk about the events of the day
spent on the water

and it's as if a play is unfolding,
inviting you to come and sit down
as you watch from a distance
while the day draws to an end.

A seagull swoops past
to scavenge something to eat
and in the distance someone
drives away a stray dog.

The housewives with their colourful head-clothes
are gathering around the boats to buy
and to catch the news of the day.
A kaleidoscope of people
and an array of aromas does fill the night air
while everyone is talking simultaneously.

As they part to go home.
the evening arrives and the sky becomes dark,
lights have to be turned on
and the houses are etched of
as the day does disappear.